The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-01-07
MEASURING TIME.
New Year Sermon by Rev. T. Do
Witt Talmage, D. D.
The Unwisdom of Estimating Ones Lifc
on Earth by Mere Worldly Gratifica-
0on- The Christian Way Of Count
Ing Time-A Contrast.

bROOkLTN. Jan. g.-Mr. 1aim3gc cnoSt
Ter his text to-day part Of the eighth
verse of the forty-seventh chapter of Gene
sis: "How old art thoua'' The sermon
was as follows:
The Egyptian capital was the focus Of
the worlds wealth. In ships and barge:
there had been brought to it from India
fraDkincense. and cinnamon, and ivory
and diamonds; from the north, marble and
iron; from Syria, purple and silk; from
Greece. some of the finest horses of tht
world. and some of the most brilliant char
lots, and from all the earth that which
could best please the eye, and charm the
car, and crafty the taste. There were
temples aiiame with red sandstone, entered
by Getaways that were guarded by pillars
bewilderiag with hieroglyphics, and wound
with brazen serpents, and adorned with
winged creaturcs-their eyes, and beaks,
and pinions giittering with precious stones.
There were marble columns blooming into
white Hover beds: there were stone pill
lars. at the top bursting into the shape OF
the lotus when in full bloom.
Along the avenues. lined with sphinx,
and fame, and obellsk, there were princes
who came in gorgeously upholstered palan-
Quin, carried by servants in scarlet, or else
where drawn by vehicles, the snow-white
ing at full run. There were fountains from
stone wreathed vases cllmoing the ladders
of the light. You would hear bolt shove
and door of brass would open like flash
Of the sun. The surrounding gardens were
saturated with doors that mounted the
terrace and dripped from the arbors and
burned their incense in the Egyptian noon.
On floors of mosaic the glories of Pha-
rcah were spelled out in letters of porphy-
ry, and beryl, and flame. There were or.
naIicnts twisted from the wood of tama-
risk, embossed with silver, breaking into
foam. There were footstools made out of a
single precious stone. There were beds
fashioned out of a crouched lion in bronze.
There were chairs spotted with the sleek
hides of leopards. There were sofas footed
with the claws of wild beasts and armed
with the beals of birds. As you stand on
the level beach of the sea on summer day
and lock either way there are miles of
breakers. white with the ocean foam, DASH
ing shoreward; SO it seemed as if the sea OF
the worlds pomp and wealth in the Egyp-
tian capital for miles and miles flung itself
up into white breakers of marble temple,
Elausoleum and cbelisk.
~ was to this capital and the palace Of
Pharoah that Jacob, the plain shepherd.
cane to meet his son Joseph, who had be-
come Prime Minister in the royal apart
Eient. Pharaoh and Jacob meet, dignity
end rusticity, the gracefulness of the court
and the plain manners of the field The
King, wanting to make the old country
man at ease, and seeing how white his
beard is and how feeble his step, looks IA
miliarIy into his face and says to the aged
man: slow old art thou."
Night before last the gate of eternity
opened to let in, amid the great throng Of
departed centuries, the soul of the dying
year. Under the twelfth stroke of the
brazen hammer of the city clock the
patriarch fell dead, and the stars of the
night were the funeral torches. 1t is most
fortunate that on this road of life there are
so many niisstones, on which we can read
just how fast we are going toward the
journeys end. l feel that it is not an in
appropriate question that l ask to-day
when / look into your faces and say. as
Pharoah did 10 Jacob, the patriarch: How
Old art tbou.'
reop!e who are truthful on every other
subject lie about their ages. SO that l do
not solicit from you any litera, response to
the question have asked. would put no
one under temptation: but l simply want
this morning to see by what rod it is we
are measuring our earthly existence
There is right way and Il wrong way Of
measuring door. or a wall. or ar arch, or
a tower; and so there is a right way and q
wrong way Of measuring our earthly ex-
istence. 1t is with reference to this higher
meaning that l confront you, this morning,
with the stppendoTs question of the text,
end ask: " How old art thou!"
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly qualification. When Lord
Dundas was wished q happy New Year,
he said;, 1t will have to be happier year
than the past for hadn't one happy mo-
Inent in all the twelve months that have
gone" But that has not been the ex 2erience
Of most OF us; we have found that, though
the world is blasted with sin, it is a very
bright and beautiful place to reside in;
we have Lad joys innumerable. There is
no hostility between the Gospel and the
Eerrimer S and the festivities of life.
l do not think that we fully enough ao-
preciate the worldly pleasures God gives
us. When you recount your enjoyments,
You do not go far enough back Why do
You not 60 back to the time when you were
an infant in your mothers arms, looking
up into the heaven of her smile-to those
days when you filed the house with the
uproar Of boisterous merriment-when you
shouted as you pitched the ball on the play
ground-when, on the cold, sharp winter
night, muffled up, on skates you shot out
over the resounding ice Of the pond! Have
You forgotten all those good days that the
Lord gave you! Were you never a bow
Were you never a girl! Between those
times and this, how many mercies, how
many kindnesses the Lord has bestowed
upon you. How many joys have breathed
up to You from the flowers, and shone down
to you from the stars, and chanted to
You with the voice Of soaring birds, and
tumbling cascade, and booming sea, and
thunders that with bayonets of fire charged !
down the mountain side! JOY! Joy! JOY!
If there is any one who has right to the J
enloyments of the world it is the Christian, !
for God has given him a lease to every /
thing in the promise: "All are yours" |
But have to tell you that a man who est |
mates his life on earth by mere worldly /
qualification is a most unwise man. Our I
life is not to be game of chess: it is not a !
dance IN lighted ball. TO quick music: it is /
not the froth Of en- ale pitcher; it is not the .
settings OF wine cup: il is not BANQUET !
with lntoxication and registering. it is the ,
first step on ladder that mounts into the
skies, or the first step on a road that
plunges into a horrible abyss. So that in
this world We are only keying up the harp
Of a rapture. or forging the chain of bond
age. And standing before you to-day
with life on the one side and death on the
other-song on the one side and groaning
on the other-mansions on the one side and
dungeons on the other-Heaven on the one
side and hell on the other-Iput to you the
question Of the text: "How old art thou!"
Towards what destiny are you tending. and
how fast are you getting on toward itl
Again. I remark that there are many
who estimate their life ON earth by their
sorrows and misfortunes. Through great
many of your lives the plowshare hath